September 18, 1977 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/11/richard-pryor-great-meltdown-racist-hollywood-bowl On September 18, 1977, Aaron Russo, Bette Midler's manager, produced "A Star-Spangled Night for Rights" at the Hollywood Bowl. The focus of the four and a half hour concert was gay rights. Performers included Midler, War, Richard Pryor, Helen Reddy, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits and Tanya Tucker. Among the approximately 17,000 people in the audience was Paul Newman, Olivia Newton-John, Valerie Harper and Robert Blake. It had been a rough year for gay rights. In June, Anita Bryant's 'Save Our Children' campaign proved successful when Dade County, Florida voters repealed the gay rights ordinance they had just passed in January and in Arkansas, the state legislature reinstated the sodomy laws it repealed two years earlier. As a result of these setbacks, gay rights marches appeared around the country, official Gay Pride parades drew their highest number of participants to date, and Russo organized the concert to benefit the Save Our Human Rights Foundation. California Senator John Briggs (R-Fullerton) threatened to blacklist every Hollywood performer or politician who supported or attended the show. The following year Briggs sponsored a proposition to remove all gay or lesbian employees and their supporters from California schools. The measure was defeated due in large part to the efforts of San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk. On September 18, 1977, Milk had yet to be elected to that position. An impressive array of acts was assembled for this once-in-a-lifetime event. The band War was on the bill, as were a diverse range of singers including Helen Reddy, Tanya Tucker, Tom Waits and the Divine Miss M herself. Also on tap were Lily Tomlin, a few novelty acts such as a black troupe of gay roller skating dancers called “The Lockers,” and a prestigious pair of dancers from the LA Ballet Company. The show started a bit late, but no one seemed to mind. There was positive energy, and a definite party atmosphere. Several of the singers did their numbers, to mostly enthusiastic applause. Someone made a note of the fact that Tanya Tucker, Helen Reddy and Bette herself had all produced hit versions of the song “Delta Dawn.” “Wouldn’t it be great it they performed it together?” went some of the buzz. But things got interesting after the novelty act The Lockers performed. The Lockers were definitely “unique.” It was a dance act, and they wore brightly colored costumes, and roller skated to music. It may be as a result of the fact that the troupe got a pretty lukewarm response that set the wheels in motion for the disaster that was to come. Also rumored was that a stage hand reprimanded one of the Lockers for smoking backstage, and that it had set Pryor off. There are theories that Mr. Pryor might have been “high.” Most attribute what happened to him just being Richard Pryor. A few sentences into his act, he became increasingly belligerent, then turned on the huge audience, calling gays racist, and also trashing the concept of women’s rights. He criticized the audience for giving the ballet company a standing ovation, while appearing to be unimpressed with the black roller skaters. Pryor voiced his complaints. "I came here for human rights, but I am seeing what it’s really about. Fags are prejudiced". He went on, "The Lockers dancers came backstage dripping with sweat and all you could say was, 'Oh, that was nice'. But when the ballet dancers came out dancing to that funny music, you said, Wow, those are some bad motherfuckers. "Those young kids worked their asses off to entertain you faggots, and they're not getting paid, but once one of them steps out of line a tiny bit you think you can yell at him. Well you can't! I'm sick of y'all and your faggoty-ass bullshit". The tirade went on for some minutes, with Pryor weighing black rights against gay rights, black rights against women’s rights, and making pejorative comments about gay sex acts. The reaction in the Bowl ranged from shock to hurt to anger and everything in between. He finally concluded with, “Where were you faggots during the Watts riots - sucking each other's dicks? All of you can just kiss my happy rich black ass!” With that he effectively “mooned” the audience and walked off. A minute or two after Pryor had finally exited, the show’s director came out to try and calm everyone down, followed by a shaken Aaron Russo, who went onstage to state a disclaimer, and to apologize for Pryor's outburst. "I'm terribly embarrassed and don't know what to say about what just happened, but I do think this show tonight started out and will end up on a positive note". Next up was Tom Waits. Waits was invited to perform at the event by his close friend Bette Midler, who he had met three years earlier at The Bottom Line in New York. Subsequently, Midler recorded Waits' "Shiver Me Timbers". He sat on the darkened stage for some five minutes with a lit cigarette prop, near the piano, waiting for the ruckus to die down. By the time he finally got to sing, the audience were agitated and Waits gave up after two songs. A couple more forgettable acts followed, before Bette Midler finally came out to do her act and wrap up the show. By now she knew what had transpired, and she was faced with the huge challenge of trying to get everybody back into a good mood and end the evening on some semblance of a happy note. She burst upon the stage, and shouted, “Is there anyone here tonight who wants to kiss this rich white ass?”. The audience roared their approval, and the show went on. Still, even for the Divine one, the night wouldn’t end without yet one more incident. The second selection Bette sang was off her then-current album, a song called "Red". The song has an extremely energetic closing, and when she performed the final verse, she “mocked collapsed” on the stage, knees first. However, the stage was rough, and she cut up her knees, quite badly. Aaron Russo had to come out and wrap white towels around her bleeding legs. Miss Midler performed a few more numbers, including a romantic, caressing interpretation of "La Vie En Rose". But Bette didn’t stay on for a very long time. She had such a connection with the audience, who worshipped her. So they understood when she explained to them, "It’s late, we’re all tired, let’s do another song or two and go to bed". Bette Midler Setlist: *Friends *In The Mood *Opening Monologue *Red *War Wounds / Los Angeles Chatter *Empty Bed Blues *Sophie Jokes / Anita Bryant *Bilingual *La Vie En Rose *Fiesta In Rio *Twisted *Do You Want To Dance / Higher and Higher *Thanks *Friends